The Marvelous Mrs. Merkel

Hello all-- Just wanted to give an update. I know that Mom updated her facebook page but not everyone who reads this can see that. Overall, things have been quiet and she has been recovering and resting. They took the stitches out about a week after the surgery and she has been slowly working on removing the wonky sideburn that is now at a 90 degree angle from its original position. She has been out to Bingo twice (a usual weekly event) and out shopping a few times, but small bouts of activity make her pretty tired. No training for marathons yet...maybe in a few months. The good news (which she had already posted) was that her margins from the surgery were clear. Actually, they were very clear. That means in addition to the tumor being removed previously, she had an additional 2 cm in every direction removed and that tissue was clear of any cancer. To put the size of those margins in perspective, a lot of cancers require only 1-2 mm of clear margins to be removed (millimeters [mm] ...

Happy New Year!          Just a brief update, as the queen herself will update tomorrow after receiving the pathology report (i.e. how big the tumor really was and if they cleared the margins) during her first follow-up appointment. Mom has been resting comfortably at home since Sunday. An ice pack worked wonders on her eye--thanks Cheryl! The swelling and the pain are gradually getting better each day.            In my opinion the scar will look great once the stitches are out and the swelling has gone down. Still a bit of tugging on her eye and the area around her ear is pretty sensitive (where the "skin flap" originated). But other than that, everything is slowly getting better.            We hope everyone is having (or had) a good holiday.